Today's consumers are moving to more visual displays of various media in a display setting. One such application is the use of digital picture frames, which is increasingly gaining popularity due to its ease of use. Typically, a digital picture frame is a device that can be employed to display one or more digital pictures on a screen, such as an LCD screen. Multiple pictures can be viewed on the digital picture frame by employing a slideshow format. Digital photo frames are typically about the size and shape of a regular photo frame and can be employed to share digital photos with persons that do not have access to a computer.
Conventionally, digital picture frames display images from files stored on the picture frame that have been loaded into memory. The files are typically loaded onto the frame via a memory stick, compact flash card, SD or other memory card types. In addition, a user can typically employ a USB cable to transfer pictures from a PC (personal computer) to the digital photo frame. Alternately, a few conventional frames can connect to the Internet via a phone line to download new pictures and information to display on the screen.
Advances in digital photography are rapidly increasing the use of digital photographs and with the reducing cost of digital photo frames, most consumers are employing digital photo frames to display and/or view their digital pictures rather than traditional frames that display photo prints. However, consumers require basic computer knowledge and/or access to a PC to download their digital pictures to the digital photo frame. More recent picture frames have a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) modem where users can transfer images to the digital photo frame via a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) connection from a PC or server. However, consumers can download photos onto the frame only when within the range of the LAN access point. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11 (a, b, g, etc.) to provide wireless connectivity but have a limited range.